Raising money for The Heri Special School at Mporoto, Tanzania

This year marks 30 years since the formation of The St Jude Foundation!

As Headteacher of Rectory Paddock School for disabled children in Kent, the late Mark Roberts dreamt of being able to help children with similar needs in poorer parts of the world. In 1988, Mark set up The St Jude Foundation with the general aim being to promote the education and welfare of disabled people (especially children).

Ten years later, in 1998, the Foundation arranged for Mr. Egha Egha, a teacher from Mporoto, Tanzania, to spend several weeks in England to learn from special schools in the London area. When he returned to Tanzania, he set up a special school of his own for the disabled children in Mporoto. He called it The Heri Special School.

For several years he kept the school running using various rented buildings. Then, in 2005, with the support of the St Jude Foundation, Egha Egha purchased a piece of land in Mporoto and work began on constructing the first of several permanent school buildings. Through the efforts and dedication of Mark and Egha, the continued commitment of the existing Headteacher, Safina Egha, and the support of the St Jude Foundation and its donors, Heri Special School has, slowly but surely, gone from strength to strength. We’d like to let you know what’s gone on this year.

2018 acheivements

Headteacher Safina confidently reports on the successful implementation of their intended programme for 2018. This programme included:

• Developing the students’ social skills - so they are better able to be involved in the community outside the school;

• Encouraging and growing student self-awareness and self-reliance;

• Providing parent support;

• Teaching languages;

• Developing a relationship between the school and its local community;

• Ongoing maintenance of the school and its surroundings - to ensure a clean, pleasant environment for its students, staff and visitors.

In the classroom, Safina reports that the 39 pupils (including the disabled children) have been learning about languages, social affairs and religion; working on their motor sensory skills and their ability to be more independent (such as learning how to use a phone or how to cross a road safely); and they’ve spent time reading, drawing, playing and doing home craft activities.      

The school enables children as young as 4 years to enrol and the disabled pupils are able to stay on at Heri Special School until the age of 20. They are ensured a safe, nurturing, familiar environment throughout their formative and teenage years. Safina aims to ensure that young adults leave the school socially and educationally prepared and equipped to integrate into society with relative ease.   

The younger children at the school continue to enjoy the playground equipment that was built and installed last year, and a nurturing curriculum.

Challenges for 2019

Despite the school’s successes, Safina and her 4 staff face several challenges. She reports that maintenance of the school buildings is an ongoing difficult task with their limited resources. It has been almost 9 years since the school was built and many areas are in need of repair and maintenance. Safina and her staff work hard at trying to stay on top of this. Last year, with the help of donations from the St Jude Foundation, they were able to build covered walkways alongside the school buildings and repair some of the ceilings and roofs. Regular maintenance is needed to ensure that these new structures are kept in good and safe condition for years to come. So repairs and maintenance remain an important part of the plans for 2019.  

The school did not get a visit from the inspectors this year and Safina says this came as no surprise. When she last spoke with the inspectors they advised they would only be in a position to review registration of the school when certain criteria have been met. Most of these relate to building improvements. As some of these criteria are not yet in place, the school is not in a position to request a visit from the inspectors. It remains an aim for the school to achieve official recognition and registration with the Tanzanian Government and so Safina and her team will continue to work towards this in 2019.

Safina reports that many of the students at Heri Special School have parents or carers who are unwell or have passed away – or have had to move far away to find work. This, Safina says, is their greatest challenge: the fact that some of the children “have no one” outside of the school. It is Safina’s hope that they will be able to build a small hostel on the school grounds where the children who have lost their parents and families can stay and be looked after. Safina realises that this is ambitious, - the cost of building a small boarding house of 4 rooms seems like just a dream for her at the moment; however this remains on her wish list and it is something that the St Jude Foundation would like to consider supporting in the future.

How you can help

Every few months, Safina sends us an email updating us on developments at the school. In her email this month she thanked us for our continued efforts in raising funds for Heri Special School. In turn, we thank you, our supporters, for your kind donations to the St Jude Foundation. Safina also sent a number of new photographs which we have put on our website for you to see. These show the children in the classroom and enjoying the playground equipment installed in 2017 through donations to the St Jude Foundation. One of the photo captions states simply “Happy children enjoying their new playground equipment.” We’re proud of the fact that our efforts – and yours – have helped make these children happier, and we hope that we will be able to continue to support The Heri Special School throughout 2019.

Donations to the St Jude Foundation can be made in a variety of ways and we have listed these at the bottom of this letter. 

We hope that this letter – and the recent photographs – will enable you to see the positive outcomes and the good that your generosity has brought about and the happiness it has created.

All that is left to say is to wish you and yours a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Vivian Hinchcliffe (Managing Trustee of The St Jude Foundation)

and Merry Christmas from Dylan, Neville, Jillian and Sue ☺

Donations

Make a donation to The St Jude Foundation, for The Heri Special School in Mporoto, Tanzania, in one of the following ways:

Single Bank Transfer or Monthly Standing Order (e.g. £5, £10 or £15 per month)
The St Jude Foundation
Account Number: 00216129
Sort Code: 30-00-08

Cheque
Please make your cheque payable to The St Jude Foundation and post to 43 Angel Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey, KT7 0AZ

Debit Card, Credit Card or Paypal
Please see our donations page